Iamstuck - You mentioned the difference between Sunni and Shia muslims.
I spent a long time talking to muslims on the internet, before the rise of ISIS.
The one final conclusion that was Islam stood on the principle that religion had
corrupted the true faith, and Islam was the final example of what it meant.
The problem is, it takes a purely legalistic view of the law, the exact letter of the
law, and a view that if you are 50% ok you go to paradise, 49% and you burn in
hell with your skin burnt off, and regrown for eternity.
This creates a society where the focus is appearance, and murder for religious reasons
is fine. And the whole structure is based on a slander, everything else is corrupt.
This is just a propoganda mirage, where most of the faith is just a distration to the core
claim of authority. There is so much stuff that is totally irrelevant to life and the faith,
but fills peoples time and arguments where the foundations are shot to pieces.
Jesus and Christianity are totally different. The focus is simple and direct. It goes to the
heart of the individual and asks, who are you? What really matters to you?
Do you have love and integrity, a desire to find truth?
You could argue even many philosophies have a claim at a similar objective. The big difference
is the cross. The cross shows the heart of the creator, His love that drove Him to the most
extreme end to express this love. Now some call this suicide at the hands of the Romans and
Jews. And in part that is true. But it was to say, the worst that man could do to an innocent,
to the creator, to the source of all, can be forgiven, if the heart changes, if the believer sees
who God really is.
It is in seeing who God is, how life works, how separation from God, choosing our own way
causes sin to grow, to self justify, to do things we wish we did not, to become cold and hard,
empty and selfish. It gets so bad, when God appears as a man, people do not recognise him,
but want Him dead. Imagine meeting God face to face. I know to your religious background that
appears blasphemy, but God through love has made this possible. Think about this idea for a while.
It is hard to grasp, because in many ways it does not make sense unless this is the only way to
save man from himself.